


Limelight

by FlyAndDontLookBack



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance, Tragedy, Tragic Romance, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-04 00:59:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6634636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyAndDontLookBack/pseuds/FlyAndDontLookBack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zombie apocalypse AU in which Midorima and Takao believe they'll be able to survive together, but forget that reality isn't as forgiving as they expect it to be. midotaka. charadeath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> This will be divided into parts and will be uploaded every two weeks. Hope you all enjoy it :) If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer without spoiling too much!

Corpses. All he sees are corpses, some moving, some not. His eyes are dull and grey. He doesn’t hesitate to murder them all.

“Shin-chan, you doing ok there?” A black haired man calls out as he slashes the neck of a rotten, almost molten, zombie. The black-haired man smiles internally, knowing that all his research and extreme zombie movie nights have payed off quite well. He knows exactly when to strike, how to strike, and most importantly, how to protect.

The man, his hair gleaming a beautiful emerald against the slowly dying out sun, looks to his right; there are two coming their way. He looks to his left and sees three more. The black haired man has taken care of the one coming in front. They’re outnumbered, but both of them know that the zombies are at loss, especially with the two of them working together.

The green haired man harrumphes as he slashes the two on the left and quickly dodges the ones coming from the right, almost with complete and utter ease. “Of course.” He answers.

The zombie’s bodies collapse in front of him, and blood squirts out, splashing some on his face. He, in a face of disgust, immediately wipes it off.

The black haired man gives him a grin as he kills the other two and the duo then goes behind, which has at least four. One by one, they all drop down. Had they not been so molten, the green haired man would have thought of them as the gentle pitter patter of the rain.

After looking around the area carefully, both finally sigh in relief and sit on the ground. There are bodies everywhere, all of them with injured or cut off heads, but the duo is glad that there aren’t any more walking around.

The two have their back against each other and the black haired man leans against his partner, relishing the warmth between them, and smiles.

“Well, I guess we can stay here tonight, right, Shin-chan?” He asks.

The green haired man inspects the place once more, crinkling his nose, but has no choice but to nod in agreement. It’s definitely better than roaming around at night, where he can’t see anything. He’s blind as bat when it comes to the dark, which is ironic, to say the least.

“Fine, we can set up camp here. And, Takao, get off me. It’s too hot.” The man says but both know that that’s a complete lie. It’s finally winter now in Japan, and the cold wind slaps them on the face every second. But even still, the green haired man would rather be shivering in the cold than to have his partner notice the thin line of blush forming on his cheeks. He could definitely blame it on the cold, but Takao has sharp eyes. He would know in an instant the difference between the cold’s red color and something else.

Takao groans as he stands up. “Fine, but I’m still cuddling next to you while I keep watch.”

The man’s eyes widen at his partner’s words. “You can’t possibly take another shift. You did that twice in a row already. Aren’t you tired?” He can’t help but ask in worry. He makes sure to say it casually, however. Takao merely smiles, as if he knows that the man’s just worried for him.

“Well, Midorima Shintarou-kun, who’s the one who can see in the dark? Last time I checked, you can barely see without your glasses in the day. So, yes, I’m taking the shift again. You just rest your pretty eyes. We’re going to need all your strength if we want to survive another day.” Takao explains quite elaborately, and Midorima glares at him.

“You could at least wake me up before the sun goes up. That way, we can both have enoughtime to sleep. You’re going to be exhausted at this point.”

Takao shrugs. “Hey, you’re talking to the person who’s consecutively pulled five all nighters during the school breaks to get through all horror movies known to man. You were there with me, remember?”

Midorima crinkles his nose once more. “I always fell asleep after two movies or so. When I woke up, you were still watching. I still don’t know how you to do it.”

“Skills.” Takao smiles easily as he dodges a slap coming his way.

Midorima crosses his arms in a skeptical way. “In either case, there is a very big difference between pulling all-nighters during a break, and pulling all-nighters at a time like this. You never know what might be lurking in the shadows, and being exhausted will not help at all.”

“Hey, I still have a lot of energy left in me. Besides, we just need to get _you_ safe and sound. You’re both the brains and the brawn in this duo, and we both know that I would’ve never even made it out the door if it wasn’t for you.”

Midorima tries to reject that, to try and tell him that it was actually _Takao_ that saved them from being killed the first day, but Takao cuts him off before he can say anything.

“Come on, Shin-chan. Let’s get the tent set up.” Takao says as he begins to take Midorima’s backpack and unpack. Midorima sighs as he walks over to his side.

“At least sleep now. I doubt there’s going to be any more zombies coming this way. This place is already filled with their smell, so they’re not going to check this place any time soon. We’re completely camouflaged.”

Takao laughs at the suggestion and Midorima throws one of the metal pipes of the tent his way. Takao skillfully catches it. “Shin-chan, don’t you know the number one rule in surviving zombie apocalypses? Always stay alert.” He informs.

“I know that. _I’ll_ be alert.” Midorima replies, putting his hand to his chest.

Takao shakes his head, making Midorima groan in annoyance. “You can’t be, Shin-chan. You’re going to be too busy setting up the tent. Don’t worry about me, ok? I’m perfectly fine.”

“You won’t be after a while. We can’t risk it.” Midorima says with a glare. Then, he sighs as he knows how stubborn Takao can be. But that doesn’t mean he’s relenting as well. “At least promise me you’ll wake me up before sunrise, where I’ll be able to see better.”

When Takao still has his doubts, Midorima has to say it. “Please.”

And with that, Takao’s face melts in resignation, and he nods at Midorima half-heartedly. “Fine, you win, Shin-chan. And you really need to stop pulling that ‘please’ shit on me. It always works and it’s becoming unfair.” Takao scoffs jokingly.

Midorima has to turn away to hide his smile.

* * *

Midorima and Takao were childhood friends. Whether it was coincidence, destiny, or even faith, no one knew, but their path together was secured the moment the Midorima family moved next door to the Takao residence.

It was a complete surprise how well the families got along together. Normally, there would be awkwardness and the usual fake smiles to make sure there was no gossip to be thrown around afterwards. But, after a minute or so, they had all become so close, many would’ve thought they were life long friends.

It had been even better for all of them to bond because both families had a baby the same age. Before they knew it, Takao Kazunari and Midorima Shintarou were inseparable.

According to their parents, they would always go on picnics with their children and they would see Takao and Midorima chase the butterflies, sometimes fall down and scrape their knees, cry a bit, but the other would always cheer them back up and they would go back to chasing whatever floated above them. There was even one time when Takao fell into the lake and Midorima, in panic, fell down to save him, and both ended up almost drowning if it weren’t for a passerby who had seen them.

Their childhood memories were filled with their establishing their personalities early on. Takao was, like his parents, an extremely cheerful child, who never failed to make everyone smile. Even the most grumpy one (Midorima) would submit to a smile in the very end.

Takao was a carefree child. He would always run around, most of the time to Midorima’s house, and jump up and down the porch until the door opened and he was let in. He would immediately rush to Midorima’s room on the first floor at the very end of the hallway, pull the green-haired child out of bed, and they would go to the backyard that was filled with flowers and trees, the sun shining on their faces, where they would play until the sun set and Takao would eventually have to leave. Takao’s parents would always chuckle as he pulled on their legs, telling them they weren’t done playing.

Takao was as happy as anyone could be, and he shone brightly, affecting everyone along the way, just like the sun and its ability to help nature and everyone else grow.

Midorima, on the other hand, became a superstitious person. It happened one day when he stumbled upon the horoscope channel, Oha Asa, and saw that Scorpio, Takao’s sign, was dead last and they would, if not careful, be close to injuring themselves severely. Their lucky item that day was a whisk, something Midorima had in the kitchen. He had thought nothing of it and on the same day, when Takao barged into his house and both played in the backyard, a dog that was twice their size, suddenly ran towards Takao and bit him in the arm hard.

No one knew where it came from or how it got in, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that Takao was getting viciously marred.

It was the first time Midorima had seen him cry, much less scream, and he was frozen in his place, having no idea what to do. He then charged at the dog, to make it let go of Takao, but the dog pushed him aside with its body, its mouth still gripped onto Takao’s arm.

Thankfully, both families heard Takao’s cry of pain and rushed towards them, saving Takao by manhandling the dog and throwing it to the house wall as hard as they could. Not the best way to take care of a rabid dog, but they were desperate, and the two toddlers were scared out of their minds.

After a visit to the hospital, Takao was left with an irreversible scar and Midorima started watching Oha Asa daily, getting both his and Takao’s lucky item for the day.

Midorima was also very serious person, who, even at a small age, had extreme amounts of homework, both from school and home. His mother was lawyer while his father a university teacher, and, in hopes of preparing Midorima for the future, they began giving him extra work that could not have been possible to do if it weren’t for the fact that Midorima himself wanted to do it. Yes, there were moments when he was at his breaking point, even at the tender age of 10, but he knew he could always be grounded back to the ground because of the sun that lived right next to him.

In a way, Takao was always Midorima’s savior. He was always there for him in times of great need, when he couldn’t take the workload anymore and was close to ripping everything apart, when he just need to take a load off and have a nice rest. Takao would already provide him that the moment he asked for it.

Midorima liked to think of himself as more of the moon, because there were some times when he would be finished with his work, having no choice but to refuse Takao for the day, and look out the window to see Takao’s room still lit up. He would then quietly get out of his room through the window, and knock on Takao’s window, which was conveniently on the first floor.

He would tap lightly on it and Takao would pop up immediately with his regular, carefree smile. He would open the window up without any explanation, and Midorima would climb in like it was no big deal, as if they had done this many times (which they did). There, they would play games, watch movies, and just stay there until it suddenly became an impromptu sleepover. Of course, both families would practically murder them for having these kinds of sleepovers without their permission but they couldn’t really be mad for long, not when Midorima and Takao were hugging each other like their life depended on it.

It was a good life for both families, and slowly but surely, they grew up to be middle schoolers who suddenly found that cooties were just a myth and there was so much more than what met the eye. It was at a terrible time as well; both families moved to the countryside of the city and Takao and Midorima were exposed to a new environment with new people and new ideas.

Puberty struck both of them hard, and hormones, emotions, anything that they didn’t know in elementary school flew across the room haphazardly. Both suddenly found new meanings to love and feeling, and they were soon at their awkward stage.

They had been together for so long, they definitely couldn’t have known what the feeling inside them was. That hot feeling when they touched each other in kitchen accidentally while making pancakes, that uncomfortable feeling in their lungs when they couldn’t breathe right while being in the same room, and the overall feeling of confusion when they once almost kissed but both looked away at the last second while watching one of Takao’s horror movies.

They didn’t like each other, they kept telling themselves. They were like brothers. They’ve been together since they remembered. They just didn’t know what was happening to them. They both rejected it. They both decided that it was puberty, not actually them.

But those feelings never left. Not even when they entered high school and found other partners to be with. They never left, not when Midorima once caught Takao making out with a girl behind the school, not when Takao found Midorima being knocked down by a girl and having her kiss him right there, in front of him.

Another feeling brewed, jealousy and anger, even envy, but they never expressed it to each other. They had already agreed in silence that they did not think of the other in that way. They were still blaming it on puberty, they were still deluding themselves, believing that the love they felt was different; that the love they were feeling was merely a brotherly love, a love that only comes after being with each other for so long.

They were still neighbors, friends, brothers even, but when they finally graduated high school and entered university, they couldn’t deny that something growing in their chests. The uncomfortable, envious, confusing feeling they felt every single time. They couldn't deny the fact that the ‘brotherly love’ they kept convincing themselves of was, in fact, not that at all. It was something more than that. It was something absolutely terrifying, but both had to face it.

And they were about to. At least, Takao was.

But then, it happened.

* * *

“So, what do you wanna watch? _28 Days Later_ or _Paranormal Activity_?” Takao asked as he went to the DVD shelf, which was practically overflowing with all kinds of DVDs, mostly horror movies. Midorima shrugged as he came in with the popcorn, two actually.

“You know I don’t care for scary movies.” He replied and Takao decided on _Paranormal Activity_ , which had been helpfully translated in Japanese. They both sat on the couch, but not too close, and Midorima handed Takao his bowl of popcorn.

“God, I love the smell of freshly popped popcorn, don’t you think, Shin-chan?” Takao commented and while Midorima did agree with Takao, he merely scoffed.

“You and your random banter. I don’t know how I’ve lived through it for so long.”

Takao merely smiled and he pressed play. They’d already seen this dozens of times, and in Takao’s case, it was dozens upon dozens, but this was all they had until a new scary movie came out and Takao would purchase it.

“Aren’t you tired of re-watching the same thing?” Midorima asked as the movie started. Takao shrugged as he pushed a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

Once he swallowed, “Well, it’s either that or playing with my little sister, and she’s not back from school yet. Ah, the pleasures of being a university kid. You get vacation time early.” Takao leaned back on the couch, completely enjoying the serene mood.

Midorima rolled his eyes. “We could at least do something productive.”

“This _is_ productive. I’m fueling you with knowledge on how to deal with weird demon things that likes to be haunt and possess people. It’s educational.” Takao easily said back and Midorima slapped him on the arm.

“Yes, because something like this,” Midorima said while pointing to the part of a white sheet suddenly collapsing on its own while being caught on camera, “happens in real life. You know this is never going to happen.”

Takao shrugged as he recited some of the English words perfectly. He’d seen this way too many times. “You never know. You’ve been seeing the news, too, haven’t you?”

Midorima nodded, knowing where this conversation was going. “The virus in America?”

“Yeah. Isn’t it weird that we just stopped hearing about it?” Takao suddenly asked and Midorima raised his eyebrow. He had been thinking about that as well. A few weeks, Japan had been hazardous on covering what was happening in America. There seemed to be a virus - kind of like an influenza - and it was quickly making the people sick and close to death. Only blurry videos and pictures were provided of the people who were infected but the information was sketchy and no one in Japan could tell what was actually happening. And finally, just when it seemed the virus was going worse, the news suddenly stopped and the news network began to cover regular, harmless news.

“Maybe the virus is gone, or there are other interesting news out there. News networks can’t just keep talking about one big thing that’s going on. They need diversity, so maybe the virus isn’t as bad as people say it is.”

“But it’s weird. I mean, I get that the news has to keep moving forward but I follow blogs talking about this kind of thing. The blog just suddenly stopped, too, and they post daily.”

Midorima shrugged. “Those American blogs you always keep talking about?” Takao nodded. “Maybe they got sick, too, and needs a rest from blogging.”

“But they would’ve told us if they were taking a break. That’s what they always did when they were out for vacation or were too sick to post. The have a raging audience, you know, and they hate letting us down. So it’s weird that it would just… stop like that.” Takao persisted, and MIdorima directed his attention back to the movie, just getting to the part where the lights in the bathroom went off.

Takao could see that he was thinking for a logical explanation. Midorima always put his hands on his lips and occasionally closed his eyes in deep concentration. Takao couldn’t help but admire those long eyelashes that complimented his face structure, and his jaw bone that could possibly cut through anything. His bangs almost covered his eyes, and he could tell that Midorima took good care of it to have it look as soft as that. He really just wanted to play with it, to touch it and comb through it, to feel its texture and maybe just Midorima himself.

And before Takao knew it, his mouth opened. “Shin-chan.” He called out and Midorima snapped out of his thinking to look at his life-long friend.

He raised his eyebrow. “What is it, Takao? Did you find an answer?” His voice got Takao out of his stupor long enough to realize what he was about to say to him. He clamped his mouth shut and Midorima looked at him worryingly (well, worrying in Midorima standards. Takao could tell easily because he’d been with Midorima since they were practically babies. Normal people would just see it as a casual questioning look.)

“Takao?” He said and Takao darted his eyes back to the movie to avoid this awkward situation.

“Nothing! It’s nothing. I don’t have any answer yet. Maybe they really are taking a break and didn’t tell us. It’s fine. Let’s just… Let’s just watch the movie.” He said too quickly and he bit his tongue at that mistake because he knew Midorima had caught it.

Unfortunately for him, Midorima paused the movie. “Takao, what’s wrong?” He asked, devoting his full attention to him, and Takao had no choice but face him. Honestly, what was the worst that could happen? Takao could already think of more than 20, but the worst would definitely be ruining the friendship they’ve had for so long. He didn’t want this bond to break, much less disintegrate right before his eyes, but with Midorima’s prying eyes right before him, he knew he couldn’t escape.

So, unable to disguise his feelings any longer, he decided to take the risk.

Who knew? Maybe Midorima would feel the same way. At that, Takao couldn’t help but laugh internally. Sure, the great Midorima Shintarou, who might as well had the strictest, most traditional parents alive, turn out to be gay.

Takao could dream. But for the time being, it was now or never. To be honest, he was so tired of hiding it. He just wanted to let it all out.

Takao started rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. “Well, um… I’ve been meaning to tell you this for some time now, maybe since high school or something, but you know, it’s been really tiring lately, we’ve had so many things to deal with, like graduation and getting into the same university and um -”

“Takao, you’re babbling.” Midorima pointed out, looking at Takao even more worryingly. Takao almost never babbled, and when he did, it was normally because there was something big he needed to say.

“Ah, was I? I had no idea. Sorry, sorry.” Takao said while smiling, but Midorima knew the difference between a normal, carefree smile and a forced one, just like now. He crossed his arms in disapproval.

“If you were that uncomfortable, you could’ve just told me. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I thought we already established that years ago.” Midorima said, secretly wanting Takao to revert back to his carefree nature but also wanting to know more, his curiosity flaring.

Said person grabbed his own arm from behind, torn between letting the secret go and keeping it back in. He began to shake his head, determined. “You know what? No. I’d rather just say it now than keeping it locked inside for who knows how long.” Takao took a deep breath. “Ok, just… Just promise me we’ll still be ok after what I say.”

Midorima’s eyebrows furrowed, which, in Takao’s opinion, was absolutely adorable. Oh Christ, he really was head over heels for the person right next to him. “What do you mean? Is it that bad?”

Takao nodded in shame. “Yeah, kind of. I just… It might ruin what we have. You know, our lifelong friendship, and I really don’t want that to happen.”

“What could possibly do something like that? We’ve known each other since we were only one, for crying out loud.” Midorima said skeptically and Takao had to agree. They had been friends for an eternity past, so this kind of thing wouldn’t change their friendship at all. But even still, Takao was afraid. Even more so than when he encountered _Chucky_ , his first horror movie when he was in elementary school.

Takao laughed uncomfortably. “Yeah, I guess I’m just scared of how you might react.”

“What could I possibly say? It’s not like I’m going to leave any time soon.”

Takao pointed to Midorima with a pointed look. “That’s kind of what I’m scared of right now. That you might leave me for good.” He trailed off and winced when he played that kind of imagined scenario inside his head.

Then, Midorima did something Takao would have never imagined him doing. Midorima put his hand on top of his head and began to pat him tenderly. Takao looked at him shock, but relished the touch and wished it would never leave.

“You know I would never leave you.” Midorima said solemnly, confidently, and Takao got the feeling that it might be ok to confess after all.

He took a deep breath, completely calm now, and with Midorima’s hand still on his head, still but nevertheless still reassuring, Takao stared at Midorima’s green, almost emerald-like eyes intensely. They looked absolutely beautiful.

“Ok, ok. I’m ready.” Another deep breath. “Shin-chan, I -”

The door started banging and they immediately detached themselves from each other, hearts pounding but pretending as though a moment like that had never happened.

Takao looked at the time on his watch and saw that it was usually when his mom came back with his little sister from pre-school. His face scrunched up in confusion.

“Why is she knocking? Doesn’t she have the key to the house?” Takao asked himself. He then turned to Midorima, who was equally as confused. “Maybe it’s your parents, Shin-chan.”

Midorima scoffed at the suggestion. “Yes, because obviously my parents are at home and just wanted to drop by.”

“Oh yeah, your mom’s on an intense case today, isn’t she?”

“And my father is probably still stuck in university, grading papers and dealing with the rebellious students who refused to take the finals.”

Takao smiled cheekily. “Damn, must be hard to be rebellious kid, right?”

“You would know best, Mr. I-would-rather-watch-movies-all-night-than-study.” Midorima commented and Takao couldn’t help but howl with laughter. Midorima’s face formed a small blush that Takao failed to notice as he was already walking to the door.

“Wait, so who’s there?” He questioned too late before facing the door. “Who is it?” He then called out and incoherent murmurs were heard on the other side. The two looked at each other, perplexed, and Takao’s instinct screamed at him to back away, which he fortunately did, because at that exact moment, the door busted open and three excruciatingly gruesome looking monsters entered, locking their eyes on Midorima and Takao.

The monsters, which almost looked like rotting corpses of unrecognizable people, charged in and Midorima had no idea what to do. He stayed frozen in his place, eyes growing wide as the corpse came his way closer and closer, and he was sure he was a goner until he heard Takao screaming.

“Shin-chan, your lucky item!”

Midorima’s eyes immediately spotted the mini hatchet (which Oha Asa said would be extremely useful today for Cancer) and he lunged for it before the corpse did the same to him. His grip tightened on the handle but he still had no idea what to do with it. He then saw Takao from the corner of his eye with a pair of kitchen scissors, stabbing wildly at the head of one of them.

He then understood as he took his hatchet and swung at it accurately at the back of the head of the monster. A critical hit, and a strong one at that, because it sliced right through, even though it was a mini hatchet that was just a bit bigger than Midorima’s knuckle. Half of the head dropped to the ground, and soon enough, the body as well, but Midorima couldn’t catch his breath just yet.

Just as Midorima killed the monster, Takao shouted in panic and Midorima turned his head to where Takao was. He rushed over there as soon as he saw Takao being pinned down, barely avoiding the monster’s attack, its teeth gnawing at the air, trying to get to Takao’s skin. His hand gripped the scissors wildly try to jab at the forehead, but he kept missing, and he soon decided to just have the thing get off him. It was almost impossible to do so as the gravity and the weight of the bigger monster were all working against his favor, and just before the thing could open its mouth and lunge for Takao’s arm that was closest to its mouth, Midorima came down with the hatchet, heading straight for the top of the head of the corpse-like thing. 

It’s movement instantly stopped as the body went limp, and Takao could finally push it off him. It didn’t stop Midorima, however, as he began to completely ruin the body by stabbing at it multiple times, screaming at it to die.

Takao had never seen Midorima this shaken before, but he knew he would have done the same had the positions been switched.

He hugged Midorima from behind, trying to stop his hatchet hand from stabbing any further. “Shin-chan, stop! It’s already dead!”

It took several tries to get Midorima to stop, but he finally did and they both took a deep breath, from lack of air or from relief, they had no clue.

“Wh… What was that?” Midorima asked, his voice shaken with confusion and shock, and Takao bit his lip, unsure himself.

“It…” He inspected the bodies closer and Midorima hissed in complete disapproval.

“Don’t get too close, idiot!”

Takao ignored him. Then, it hit him. “Zombies.”

Midorima actually blanched out, which, in any normal situation, Takao would have laughed at whole-heartedly. “What?”

“Zombies, Shin-chan! Rotten corpses that just want to eat any human being they see or smell? It’s definitely zombies!” Takao exclaimed, but unlike his normal happy tone when he saw zombie movies, his tone this time was more serious and somewhat terrified.

Both were silent, trying to process what just happened a few seconds ago, and Midorima suddenly ran to the TV.

“Shin-chan, what are you doing?” Takao called out and was about to follow him when he saw the door flying open. He cursed when he saw the busted lock and quickly closed it, making as less noise as possible. He went up to Midorima, who was closing the movie and changing stations, and started pushing one of the sofas towards the broken door.

“Uh, little help here?” Takao asked while huffing but Midorima ignored him, flipping through the channels immensely fast. Takao realized what he was doing and pushed the sofa by himself. When he secured the door, Midorima called Takao in.

“Takao, look.” He said, and Takao didn’t like the tone of his voice. He rushed over and saw with horror the video captured behind the news reporter.

They listened intently to what she was saying.

“The epidemic, which had completely taken over America just a few weeks back, has moved over to Japan and several other countries in Asia. This virus, which had only infected one person at the time, had spread throughout the entire United States, and has thus shown horrible outcomes. What seemed to be a glimpse of fantasy has now turned into reality as people who have the virus seemingly die, only to come back, looking for food, or in this case, human flesh. Many speculate that this epidemic is like that of a zombie apocalyptic movie, in which the virus only spreads when a zombie has eaten a human being until the verge of death, and with this footage, that definitely seems to be the case. This was taken in Tokyo a few days ago. Viewer discretion is advised.”

The video behind the woman enlarged, and they saw a person getting bitten by a zombie, flesh being torn apart and the camera shakily backing away.

“Get away from him!” A panicked Japanese voice shouted but the zombie kept eating, and once it was finished, it soon diverted its attention to probably the camera man, and the camera dropped the ground, the video turning sideways. Fading footsteps were heard as well as a gruesome growl, and slowly, the person whom the zombie had been eating, and who Midorima and Takao both thought he was dead, twitched his hand terribly. Soon enough, he opened his eyes, yellow and dilated, and growled loudly, just like the one that was heard a few seconds ago. It stood up and began to walk slowly with wobbling steps.

The reporter came back. “For anyone who has not been infected, immediately find a safe location, secure all doors and windows if any, and do not proceed to go out until further notice. Have a radio at all times and listen for updates and warnings. Conserve as much food as possible. Do not, I repeat, do not go out at any circumstance and do not open doors if there is any banging. Thank you.”

The news shut down and the two looked at each other in disbelief.

Then, “My little sister! Mom!” Takao screamed in horror and ran to the door. Midorima grabbed his wrist at the last second and held him back tightly.

“What do you think you’re doing? The reporter said to not go out in any circumstance. There’re probably thousands of them outside, judging by her scared tone. You’re practically walking to your own death by going out there.”

Takao struggled to escape Midorima’s grip. “I don’t care! My little sister and my mom are out there, probably stuck, and I’m the only one who knows how to deal with this.”

“Zombies movies aren’t a reliable source!” Midorima said exasperatedly.

“Where do you think I got the idea of killing them from? The whole aiming for the head thing?”

Midorima bit back his response because Takao was right about that. That fact alone, however, didn’t stop him from holding Takao back.

“I am not letting you go out.” Midorima stood his ground.

“I’m going whether you like it or not!” Takao shouted back as he kept struggling.

“You don’t even have a weapon with you!”

“I’ll take your goddamn cleaver. Just let me go! I have to save my family!”

Takao was desperate. Midorima could see it so well. And honestly, he would have done the same if it were his parents. Hell, he would’ve jumped to idea to save Takao’s family as well. But he couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk losing one of the most important people in his life.

But even so, this was Takao’s family they were talking about. Midorima knew how much he loved all of them, especially his little sister, so he could understand so well why Takao wanted - no, needed - to do this.

Before Takao could say any more, Midorima let go and Takao hesitated for a second.

“Shin-chan?”

“I’m still not letting you go.” Takao’s face fell. “Not alone.” His face immediately brightened. Midorima went to the kitchen and saw a butcher knife hanging from the counter. Takao’s mother had always needed to use this knife, mostly because both Takao and his little sister were obsessed with meat.

He took it and handed it to Takao.

“You’ll need a weapon. All you need to do is stab them in the head, right?” Midorima asked and Takao nodded in confirmation.

“Just like you did. Slice through if you can. If you can’t, just stab them in the head and they’ll go down. The only thing functioning in a zombie’s body is its brain. You take that down and the whole thing goes down with it. Come on, let’s go.”

They pulled the sofa out of the way and started head out. Midorima took a look back at the three corpses lying on the ground, shaking his head to try and get the image out of his mind.

Takao turned back to warn him. “Zombies are extremely sensitive to noise if _Dead Set_ has proved me well. It’s better if we make no noise whatsoever.”

Midorima nodded in confirmation and they barged outside. 

It was too silent.

They looked at each other, mentally preparing themselves, and walked carefully without making any noise. 

Fortunately, Takao’s sharp eyes and hawk-like instincts were a gift at a time like this because he could sense any zombie coming their way in a 5-mile radius. He carefully pushed Midorima at a certain direction every time there were any zombies around, and Midorima trusted Takao completely.

“Where are we going?” Midorima whispered as softly as possible, putting his face close to Takao’s ears so that it could only be heard by him.

“Pre-school.” Takao answered back a bit hesitantly but Midorima didn’t take notice of it, just nodded. It was only logical that they go there, just to see if his little sister and his mother were locked in.

But as it turned out, they didn’t have to go pretty far. They didn’t have to go all the way to pre-school.

Because along the way, Takao spotted an extremely familiar grey car in the middle of the street that had been completely wrecked, along with some others, but for Takao, that was the only thing in his view. He ran as fast as he could to the wrecked grey car, Midorima following from behind, and both prayed to the Gods that they were ok; that they were safe and sound.

Their prayers had not been answered.

When Takao got close enough, he could hear growling and scratching, both in high and low pitches. He could see the smashed window panes, the claw marks, the ripped fabric of the seats, but most importantly, he could see two figures with rotten, molten skin, yellow dilated eyes, and multiple chunks of their bodies gone.

His legs crashed to the ground and Midorima had to look away from the little girl, no older than six, begging to be freed from her seatbelt so that she could eat.

He crouched down to Takao, who was silent, but Midorima knew better. He hugged him, and Takao’s body went stiff. He rested his head onto Midorima’s shoulder that got wetter by the second and Midorima had to close his eyes to will his own tears away. 

He knew Takao’s parents and little sister. Having parents with demanding jobs, he barely saw them, especially when they entered middle school, so he ended up spending much more time with Takao and his family instead. He was even there when Takao’s mother was giving birth to his little sister, waiting outside the hospital room together, holding Takao’s hand tightly to show him everything was going to be ok. There were problems at the time with Takao’s mother while she was pregnant, so they weren’t sure both of them were going to make it, but the surgery had been successful, and Midorima even joined in on the group hug once Takao’s mother had awoken.

There were multiple times when Midorima believed that he was part of Takao’s family instead.

He helped Takao up to his feet. The people inside the car were still growling for their food.

“We have to go back. We can’t afford being here without something coming our way. Come on.” Madam whispered as he began to support Takao’s weight onto his body and but Takao shook his head, his hair covering his eyes.

“I can’t - I can’t leave them like this.” Takao said, his voice hoarse. Midorima knew immediately what Takao had to do.

“Do you… Do you want me to do it?” Midorima asked cautiously. Takao shook his head once more, merely walking forward.

“Just… Just wait for me there, ok? It won’t take that long.” Takao said, voice barely a whisper.

Midorima couldn’t even bear to watch as Takao approached the car and, as Takao reassured himself that the two were safely locked in their seat belts, he stabbed the top of their heads with the same knife his mother had always used to make food for them, to make sure they were safe and not starving, to show how much their mother loved her two children. The little girl and mother stopped moving immediately, their bodies slumped, their movements halted, and their eyes completely gone.

The two were still quiet on their way back, but this time, Midorima had to rely on his own sight and instincts to avoid as many zombies as possible. It didn’t work out as well as he would have like, however, because they had to kill some zombies before finally returning home.

And when they finally shut the door with the sofa after throwing the three zombies out, Takao couldn’t help but finally let it all out, to wail and scream in agony, to cry and howl, to lament and find comfort. Midorima was right there for him, to remind Takao that he was not alone in this twisted world and they still had each other.


	2. II

“We can’t stay here forever. We’re running out of food.” Midorima said one day while Takao was flipping through the channels, looking for any changes. Takao looked over his shoulder and gave Midorima an unsurprised look.

Midorima immediately crossed his arms. “You were already planning on doing that, weren’t you?” He guessed and Takao gave him a sheepish smile that only came out as tired.

It had only been a week since the change at started and part of Takao’s family was gone (they still had no idea if Takao’s father and Midorima’s parents were still alive; they agreed to not think about it), and both had been stuck inside Takao’s house, food slowly running out and both pretty much going insane over the lack of fresh air and sunlight.

“I may or may not have been planning to go outside at night while you were asleep.” Takao confessed. “Looks like I don’t have to do that anymore. Let’s go out!”

Midorima stopped him at the last minute. “You were going to go out at night, alone?” He emphasized while glaring at the black-haired man. Takao had to avoid the intense glare.

“Maybe?” He said, making the word sound more like an uncertain question.

“Do you realize that you can’t even _see_ at night? Where would you even go? Did you even plan correctly? What were you going to do?” Midorima exploded.

“I was just going to go to the supermarket a few blocks down. You know, Shin-chan, _Happy Go Lucky Market?_ It’s close and it’s probably abandoned, so I could definitely mooch off it without having to deal with the consequences. I had it all planned out!” Takao defended as if that were a relatively easy thing to do.

“That’s not the point.” Midorima hissed. “The point is that you were going to out _alone at night,_ where you can barely even see five inches ahead of you, with zombies crawling around everywhere. Were you even going to take a weapon with you? I sleep next to the cleaver, you know. I definitely would have woken up if you were to take it.”

Takao bit his lip at the rebuke. But he wasn’t going down without a fight. “I have good eyes, Shin-chan! I can see in the dark, you know that. I would’ve been perfectly fine. Besides, I was going to the, uh, butcher knife -”

“- Takao -”

“- To defend myself. It would’ve worked out fine. I’d go out, get the food, come back before dawn, and you wouldn’t have to do anything.”

Midorima narrowed his eyes. “Did you even consider the fact that the supermarket might be locked?”

“I would’ve just broken the windows. I’ve done it before with the baseball bat. I could do it again. Hey, I could just use the baseball bat! You know, smash their heads open if I needed to.” Takao replied back, hoping that Midorima would let go of his wrist now.

Midorima was relentless. “What about the alarms?”

Takao’s face immediately fell at the remark. “The what again?” He asked even though he perfectly heard him.

“The alarms.” Midorima said, finally letting go of Takao’s wrist and crossing his arms. “They go off the moment someone steals food without paying. What do you think might happen if you break the windows? Aren’t you the one who said that zombies are attracted to noise?”

Takao pursed his lip, trying to find ways to retort, but when he found none, he hung his head down. “Fine, you win. Maybe it might not have been such a good idea. But what do you suggest then? You just said we were running out of food. What are we going to do, Mr. Smart-ass?”

Midorima glared at Takao before walking to the living room where the television was. He sat down, crossing his legs, and began to think. He closed his eyes, putting his hands to his his lips, and becoming silent.

Takao said nothing, as he knew he couldn’t disturb Midorima at a time like this, and a few minutes passed when Midorima finally opened his eyes.

He looked at Takao expectantly. Takao raised his eyebrow in confusion. “What?” He asked as Midorima got up from his spot.

“Do you know how to pick a lock?” MIdorima suddenly questioned, making Takao’s eyebrows furrow in further bewilderment.

“Uh, maybe? Why?”

“Remember just a few weeks ago, we read from the newspaper that the supermarket was robbed?”

Takao tilted his head. Then, he snapped his fingers at the memory. “Oh, yeah! It was completely unexpected because the market is so tight in security, you’d think you’d never be able to break in and out without alerting the city.”

“Remember how the robbers did it?”

“Um, I think it’s because they… picked the front entrance lock.” Takao’s face brightened. “Shin-chan, you’re a genius!” He exclaimed and ran to his room to get a paper clip, completely rushing past Midorima’s blushing face.

Takao then peeked his head through the door. “Wait, but didn’t the manager change the lock after it happened?”

Midorima shook his head. “You’d think he would, but apparently he didn’t because it would cost too much. According to my father, he just ended up moving into the market.”

Takao’s face blanched before laughing. “Wait, are you saying that the dude just sleeps inside the supermarket now because he couldn’t afford to change the whole security system? Oh god, that’s hilarious. Can you just imagine him camping in the marshmallow section, roasting them with his lighter? He really had no life, did he?”

Midorima couldn’t suppress a small smile. “No, he really didn’t.”

“You’d think the dude would set up alarms even at the entrance door.” Takao commented.

“Why would you put alarms at the entrance door? It would go off every time a person went out, and how annoying would that be?”

“Then why didn’t people who wanted to rob the market pick the lock sooner? It seems like a perfectly easy plan to get away with.”

Midorima rolled his eyes. “One because I’m pretty sure no one _knows_ how to pick a lock fast enough, and two because everyone knows everyone. We all practically know each other well enough to call each other family. Why would we want to do that to a close relative?”

Takao couldn’t say anything to that. He soon went back inside in search of what he needed and soon came out with a satisfied look on his face.

“Do you have everything ready?” Midorima asked with a raised eyebrow.

Takao came out of his room with a lock pick. Midorima looked at him suspiciously. “I thought you would get a paper clip. Why in the world do you have an actual lock pick?”

Takao grinned mysteriously. “For personal reasons.” And he refused to say more. Midorima sighed but was actually glad that he had something extremely handy with him.

Before Takao got out of his room, Midorima stopped him. “Get a big bag or something.”

“Why?” Takao asked.

“Because we need something to put all the food in.” Midorima said pointedly and Takao slapped his forehead at his own idiocy.

“Right, we can just use my basketball sports bag.” Both couldn’t help but reminisce about their high school days for a minute before Takao rushed to get it. Midorima still wished they were back in high school, playing as the Light and Shadow of Shuutoku. They had wonderful memories back then, and it would have been even better if Takao hadn’t had a girlfriend, but that was solely because it made Takao distracted more often times than not, no other reason whatsoever.

When they were both ready with the bag, the lock pick, and their own weapons (Midorima with the hatchet and Takao with his butcher knife), they pushed the sofa out of the way and started walking into the streets. It was still eerily silent, and for a while, they saw no zombies. The only ones that they did were Takao’s mother and little sister, still stuck inside the car, but they posed no threat anymore. Takao had to close his eyes as they passed the grey car. Midorima said nothing but merely wrapped his shoulder around Takao and guided him.

When they finally got to the store, Midorima walked a few steps back while Takao began to fiddle with the silver lock that held thick chains on the entrance door. Midorima had to hold back a mother-like nag when Takao easily unlocked it.

“Wasn’t that a bit too fast?” Midorima said and Takao merely gave him a devious grin. He then carefully removed the chains to not make so much noise and put them aside along with the now open lock.

Takao took a deep breath. “Are you sure no alarms are going to set off?”

Midorima nodded. “Positive.”

Takao nodded as well before turning back to the door and slowly opening it, making sure to be on high alert in case something did go off.

Thankfully, it didn’t, and Takao fully opened the door to let both him and Midorima in. There was no one inside, but there was plenty of food to stock, so they immediately went their separate ways to get more coverage. By the time they regrouped at the entrance, Midorima’s hands were full of supplies, mostly snacks and water, and Takao’s bag was already two thirds filled with his own. Midorima said nothing as he dumped his portion in the bag, and Takao was just about to walk out the door when Midorima grabbed him by the shoulder.

Takao almost tripped. “What was that for?” He complained but Midorima looked agitated, making Takao stop mid-rant.

“Thank goodness I remembered just in time. We didn’t pay for these, remember?”

“Yeah?” Takao tilted his head in confusion. “So? There’s no one to even check the items out.”

“The alarms, Takao, the alarms.” At that, Takao’s eyes widened in realization.

“Right, they go off if we don’t pay for them. Shit. So what do we do?”

Midorima looked around. “There’s got to be a switch or a button to turn them off. All alarms have that, don't they?” Takao nodded in agreement.

“So, we just have to look for the switch, right? Easy enough. I’ll check the counters, you see if there’re any back doorways.” They split up once more and when Takao found nothing behind the check out counters, Midorima called for him.

“I found a back door. Looks like the manager’s room.” Midorima said once Takao approached. “No luck with the counters?”

“Nada.” Takao said with his hands to his back, a mischievous grin on his face. Midorima raised an eyebrow.

“Takao, what do you have behind your back?”

Takao smiled sheepishly. “Well, there was nothing behind the counters except for the cashier box so I thought, hey, I could definitely hone my lock picking skills, so I -”  
Midorima slapped his forehead. “You took all the money, didn’t you?”

Takao removed his hands from his back to show stacks of money. “It’s a lot, isn’t it?”

“Why exactly do we need that much money? We can pretty much steal anything, you know that, right?” Midorima pointed out but Takao shrugged.

“Hey, you never know. We might not be the only ones who survived. There might even be a shelter or something where we have to pay to get in. Anything can happen, you know?”

Takao then waited for Midorima to begin ranting about how that wasn’t moral in the least, but to his surprise, Midorima just shrugged.

“Fine, just put in the bag and help me. The door’s locked.”

Takao smiled big as he put the money in the bag and Midorima moved away from the door for him to pick the lock. In a few seconds, they heard a click coming from the inside and Takao put a thumbs up for Midorima to see.

“Now what would you have done without me?” Takao haughtily asked and Midorima rolled his eyes, pushing Takao out of the way. Takao laughed, unwilling to move, and Midorima grunted in annoyance. He didn’t bother responding to the question because that was not his aesthetic; they both knew Midorima would’ve been goner without his black-haired companion.

And at that moment, as he saw everything happening in slow motion right before his eyes, he could see just how important Takao was to him. Because the moment Takao opened the manager door, a horrendous monster jumped out, grabbing onto Takao’s neck and trying to lunge its teeth into his flesh. 

Midorima didn’t think; his hatchet was already on back of the zombie’s head, hanging there with blood slowly seeping out of the widening hole. Takao pushed the zombie to the ground, eyes wide and shaking.

“Fuck, that scared me.” Takao breathed out, his body subtly trembling. He put his arms around himself, as if to try and reassure himself that he was still ok, and Takao couldn’t help but hug himself tightly.

“I didn’t know the manager was inside there.” Takao said in a quivering tone, the shock still there. He laughed shakily, and Takao looked inside carefully, finding the light switch as fast as he could.

The room was in complete shambles, and it was evident that the manager had fought hard before dying. Papers were flung everywhere on the ground, the desk itself was turned upside down, and there were splatters of blood marring every wall, some the color of dried red and others the color of a yellowish green. There was another door at the back corner, which Takao realized was how the manager was able to use those big chains at the front entrance without locking himself out. Takao also deduced that this was how the zombie had barged into without sounding any alarms. It must have led to the back alleyway. How the zombie opened it, he had no clue. Takao searched the area, and right in the middle of the room, there was a zombie unmoving, in which he sighed in relief.

“So, at least the manager killed it off, right?” Takao asked and he was about to take a step inside when his legs gave out on him. Midorima was right behind him to hoist him back up.

“Takao, I’ll go in. You stay here and rest for a bit.” Midorima ordered and for once, Takao didn’t say anything back. He merely collapsed the ground - carefully with Midorima’s help - and lowered his face to his palms, slowly rubbing his eyes to let the shock go away. He took several deep breaths and didn’t look up until he knew he was ok, not even when he heard Midorima coming back out and silently closing the door. When he opened his eyes, Midorima was sitting right next to him, giving him a hard yet worrying stare.

“Are you - are you ok?” Midorima asked hesitantly, and Takao laughed slightly at the awkward Midorima right next to him. He hadn’t been this direct since they were in elementary school.

“I’m fine now, Shin-chan. Did you switch off the alarm?” He asked and Midorima nodded.

“We can go. It’s a bit weird, though.”

“Hm?” Takao looked at Midorima curiously. “What is?”

“That the manager was able to kill the zombie but still turned.” Midorima explained and Takao thought about it, knowing what Midorima had said was true. He leaned over to the zombie that had just tried to eat him, and though he was still a bit wary, he could take in every detail of the once surviving manager of the super market.

“There’s a big chunk of his flesh gone.” Takao examined. “But it’s not enough to make him die from just that.” Midorima walked over to where the zombie was, and hesitated before he could touch it.

“I won’t get infected if I touch the thing, right?” He asked and Takao shook his head.

“Where was that question when you chucked off the zombies that were in our house that day?”

MIdorima harrumphed. “We were wearing gloves, remember?”

Takao chuckled. “No, you wore gloves. I just handled it like a man.” Midorima gave him a look, which made Takao significantly better. “No, you won’t get infected by touching them. The only way to turn into one is to have them eat you until you die.” Takao said skeptically. “But that wound should be nothing unless he died from blood loss.”

“It is a possibility.” Midorima noted as he examined the lost shoulder himself. As a valedictorian student preparing to be a doctor, he knew just how much blood a person could lose and how much time it would take until he would die from blood loss. “Looks like it happened a few days before our visit.” Midorima then deduced and pushed the zombie away.

“Jesus, they smell bad.” Takao said, crinkling his nose. Midorima nodded in agreement.

Midorima then sighed. “Do you think he knew that he was going to die?”

Takao shrugged. “Who knows? Aren’t there some accounts where people can tell when they’re about to die? It happens all the time in stories.”

“Then if he knew he was going to die, the least he could have done was to kill himself.” MIdorima then stated and Takao looked at him with horrified eyes.

“What?” Takao exclaimed. “What did you just say?”

“What I’m saying is, if he could feel himself dying, he could have just killed himself before he turned and it would’ve saved us the trouble.”

Takao couldn’t believe what MIdorima had just said. “Are you saying that a person should just kill himself for the sole reason being that it would’ve been better for us? How could you, Shin-chan? I’m sure he had no clue he was going to turn! He could’ve had hope that he would get better, or at least just die without becoming one of them. What are you saying, Shin-chan? This isn’t like you at all!”

“You were almost killed, Takao!” Midorima yelled, stunning Takao in place. “I don’t have any supplies at all! No medical kits handy, no first aid kits around! What do you think would’ve happened if he took a big chunk out of you? What do you think we could’ve done? We wouldn’t have time to patch it up, and we wouldn’t have the right equipment to completely stop the bleeding, too. Why are you defending him? I almost lost you, for crying out loud!” Midorima’s eyes widened at his own words and clamped them shut, eyes darting around, not knowing what to do.

For a moment, the two former university students said nothing, tension high and confusion growing. Then,

“Let’s go back. I think we have enough food for two weeks or so, and since we’ve turned off the alarm and dealt with the lock, we can just come back here whenever we can, right?” Takao suggested and Midorima nodded a bit eagerly.

“Sure… Yeah, that would work. Come on, let’s go.” Midorima stammered and the duo took off, stealthily avoiding any zombie coming their way and barricading the door so that they would be safe, or at least, safe enough.

* * *

A few months past, and their routine becoming clear. If food ran out, they would both go out and get more from the supermarket. The supplies there were becoming rotten or outdated but there were still some that was edible, like the snack section, though the meat portion was completely ruined as there was no AC to keep them from spoiling.

Water had also been cut off, so several times, they had to go and carry a pack of 2L water bottles to use not only for drinks but also for showers. Dishes could be ignored but both couldn’t stay dirty for too long. As former basketball players who hated bad hygiene, they had to take showers. It was mandatory for them.

However, after two weeks when they saw the amount of water dwindling as well, they couldn’t help but sacrifice shower privileges as well. To survive, they would need water to stay hydrated and nothing else. Midorima cringed when they made the decision, but he knew it couldn’t be helped. So, when his hair became oily and unbearable to deal with, he asked Takao to cut off his hair.

Takao looked at him in complete shock. _“What?”_

Midorima wasn’t fazed. “I want you to cut my hair off.”

“Um, why, exactly?” Takao asked, eyes blinking wildly as to try and understand the green haired man in front of him.

“I don’t want to deal with the uncomfortable hair. The feeling is unbearable and I would rather have it cut off completely than to deal with it for another day.” Midorima said logically. Takao bit his lip. He absolutely loved Midorima’s hair, and while it had grown past his eyebrows, it was still a good look for him. But at the same time, he could understand Midorima’s dilemma. Takao was having the same problem.

“Fine.” Takao reluctantly agreed. “But I can’t buzz cut it. I don’t have the right tools.”

“It’s fine. Just cut as short as you can.”

“Are you sure, though? This hairstyle’s always been with you, you know?” Takao tried to persuade but Midorima shook his head, disgust plastered on his face.

“It’s going to grow back either way.”

Takao sighed but gave Midorima a smile. He went to the kitchen and came back with a pair of scissors. “It’s not the right tool for hair cutting, but if you want it that badly, I guess I can make it work.”

Midorima snorted. “What are you? My personal hair stylist?”

Takao tapped his eye. “I pay great attention to detail. I can still make you handsome looking even with these godforsaken scissors.” Midorima rolled his eyes but soon closed them, and Takao went to work.

Half an hour later, the floor around Midorima’s chair was covered with green hair, and Takao couldn’t help it. Midorima still looked hot with a buzz-like cut. He really did try his best to shorten it as much as possible, and with a few tricks he learned while cutting his hair, it really looked like Midorima was going to military or something.

Takao looked at Midorima’s new look, once skeptically, and another with more approval.

“Done!” He said enthusiastically, patting himself on the back for a good job done, and Midorima stood up to go and look for himself in the bathroom mirror. When he came back, he had a surprised look on his face.

“You… Did a good job.” Midorima complimented awkwardly, and Takao did a double-take. Did he just hear Midorima giving him a direct compliment?

“Hey, no problem, Shin-chan!” Takao passed off smoothly, but inside, he was dancing.

“Do you want me to do the same to you?” Midorima then asked and Takao shook his head.

“I think I’m fine. I’m not ready for a drastic change like yours. I think I’ll keep my headband to keep my bangs out of the way. But I’ll tell you when you can cut it.” Takao said with a smile and Midorima nodded, starting to clean up the hair.

They heard a knock on the door a few minutes after they took the trash outside (carefully, of course). The duo looked at each other. It wasn’t like the banging of a zombie this time; it felt more human.

Takao unfolded the curtain and to both of their surprises, a man who looked a bit older than they appeared, his eyes alert and begging.

“Please, open the door! Please!” The muffled voice cried out and Takao, without Midorima’s consent, pulled the sofa out of the way as fast as he could. The man barged in with his body and the duo immediately placed the sofa back to where it was.

“Thank you.” The man huffed as he tried to regain his breath. He collapsed on the floor, grabbing onto his neck, willing himself to take deep breaths. Midorima glared at Takao and he shrugged in response.

‘I had to, Shin-chan.’ Takao’s eyes said. Midorima just crossed his arms.

‘You still should’ve talked to me before we let him in.’ Midorima eyed back. He then turned his attention to the man in front of them. He had long hair, tips barely touching his neck, and it was oily, just like Takao’s, maybe even more so. His clothes were tattered but by judging at the mark on the back of his jumper, he was in university, just like them.

“Kyoto University? You’re all the way from Kyoto? What are you doing here in Tokyo?” Midorima asked incredibly. “It’s two regions away, and at the time like this? Don’t tell me…” Midorima’s eyes widened at the man’s strength and stamina.

“Water… I need water…” The man breathed out, completely ignoring Midorima’s words, and Takao immediately rushed to the kitchen to get the stranger a bottle of water. He drank it selfishly and almost choked halfway through it.

“Hey, slowly now. It’s ok. No one’s going to steal it from you.” Takao reassured and the man calmed himself down, drinking the rest of the water eagerly, but not as quickly as before. When he was done, he sighed in relief.

“Thank you.” He said in appreciation, his voice still a bit hoarse, as he looked at Takao and the hawk-eyed man smiled back.

“Anything to help anyone who’s not dead!” Takao said cheerfully, though Midorima slapped him on the arm. “What?” Takao asked while rubbing his shoulder.

“As I was saying, did you walk all the way from Kyoto to here?” Midorima asked and the man cringed slightly.

“Well, not really. My friends and I were riding the school bus to a field trip when it happened. We were already Aichi when the bus hit something and something barged into the bus, eating the driver. We all got out through the emergency exit but some of the benchwarmers were eaten straight away.” The man started telling but he soon shivered at the memory. and for a few seconds, no one said anything. The duo looked at the stranger with worried glances.

When the moment passed, the man started talking again. “I’d rather not talk about it, actually. It’s still a bit too tender, even though it has been over a month.” He laughed humorless.

“Why come to Tokyo then? Couldn’t you have been safer taking shelter where you were at?” Midorima asked.

The man shrugged. “The radio of the bus was still working and it said something about Tokyo. The remainder of us figured it would be safer than there, so we started walking. I was the only one who survived.” The man said tiredly and Takao patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. Midorima’s eye twitched slightly.

“What’s your name?” Takao asked.

“Hanamiya Makoto, third year in Kyoto University. You guys?”

“Takao Kazunari and Midorima Shintarou, both second years in Tokyo Uni.” Takao introduced and Hanamiya whistled.

“Damn, that’s a good university.”

“So is Kyoto.” Midorima pointed out.

Hanamiya shrugged. “Eh, not good enough. I’ve actually got accepted there but it was too far from home and I didn’t want to leave my friends and family so I settled for next best. Both of you smart?”

“Nope!” Takao answered with a big grin. Midorima slapped him on the back. Hanamiya laughed at the banter of the two.

“Man, you must be really close.” He commented and Takao smiled once more.

“Yup, we’ve been friends since we were babies. Literally.” Takao replied.

“No wonder. You guys seem to have a really close bond with each other. So, when did you start dating?” Hanamiya asked with a smile on his face and that comment was alone to make Midorima freeze up and make Takao start spluttering.

“What?” Both exclaimed at the same time, and Hanamiya laughed whole-heartedly.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. You don’t have to be so uptight about it. I’m completely fine with gays.” Hanamiya said with a smile on his face.

“We’re not dating.” Midorima stated firmly while Takao just lingered behind. Hanamiya caught it and raised an eyebrow but said no more.

“So, have you guys been here since the whole thing started?”

Midorima nodded. “We were watching a movie when three of them barged into the house. We got rid of them, thankfully, but now we’re just trying to survive. There aren’t a lot of them in this area. Everyone else was at work or school while it happened so they were all away from this part of town.”

“I did wonder about that. Why live so far away from the big city?” Hanamiya asked.

Takao shrugged. “We did live in the heart of Tokyo but we moved after my little sister was born.” Midorima and Hanamiya could see Takao’s eyes dimming at the mention of his little sister. “It was too crowded for both families and we couldn’t really deal with it. Both of our families decided to live at the edge of it because it was a lot more quiet and peaceful. Kind of like the rural area, you know? We could still take our bikes and go to school, or even run for that matter, so it was fine.”

“So even when you guys went to university, you would just run?” Hanamiya said incredulously.

“We were basketball players in high school.” Takao said proudly.

“Which school?”

“Shuutoku.” Hanamiya whistled once more.

“Damn, you guys went to the best schools, didn’t you? Wasn’t Shuutoku a power house?”

“Yup!” Takao said, grabbing Midorima by the arm. “All because of this person right here.”

Hanamiya squinted his eyes and then widened them at the sudden realization. “No wonder your names sounded so familiar. I almost didn’t recognize you because the headband and the hair cut. You guys are Shuutoku’s Light and Shadow, aren’t you?”

“I’m guessing you’re also a basketball player?” Midorima deduced and Hanamiya nodded.

“Yeah, but we weren’t that well known.”

“Which school were you from?” Midorima asked but Hanamiya just shrugged, uncomfortable with answering the question.

“Kirisaki Daiichi.” Midorima and Takao’s eyes widened at the name. They were infamous for hurting any ace that would come into contact with the players and there was always more than one occasion where many teams had to forfeit to avoid any injuries.

Now that he thought about it, Midorima had heard of the name Hanamiya Makoto before. He didn’t remember where, however, because Shuutoku had never had to worry about facing Kirisaki Daiichi; that school would always lose in the preliminary rounds in the Kansai bracket.

“You were one of the players who hurt others, weren’t you?” Midorima asked bluntly and Hanamiya bit his lip.

“We had no choice. Both the coach and the captain had trained us to do so. It was their command, not mine. It’s all in the past now, though. I regret doing those things when I was in high school but I can’t afford that to ruin my life now. Right now, surviving is the only thing that matters to me, and I would really love it if you guys would help me out.” Hanamiya said, regret deep in his tone, and Midorima softened his look. The guys looked so pitiful and he really did look extremely guilty for what he had done in the past.

“Help you how?” Takao asked, stepping up and interrupting the conversation. Hanamiya took out a black object from his pocket and they all saw a radio in his hands.

“What’s it been saying?” Midorima asked and Hanamiya gave him a curious look.

“Don’t you know?”

“Well, we haven’t had a radio since it started. We’ve mostly been relying on the television news but it’s all shut down. No new stuff whatsoever.”

“That’s because most of the news networks were completely ambushed. The static around the buildings were too loud for the things out there so they were all killed. We have to rely on radios now. Don’t you guys have one?”

Takao shook his head. “We found one in the attic but it was too old to be functioning. Shin-chan didn’t have one either.”

“Well, you’re in luck, because I got this while we were entering Shizuoka. It’s been helping me ever since.” He turned the radio on and immediately there was a deep voice repeating the same phrase.

_“… I repeat, quarantine zone in Hokkaido. Anyone with a doctorate, phD, or is an expert in the field of science to come to Hokkaido for search of a cure. I repeat, quarantine zone in Hokkaido. Anyone with a doctorate, phD, or is an expert in science to come to Hokkaido for search of a cure. ”_ It blared and Midorima and Takao looked at each other, hope flaring in their eyes.

“We have to go to Hokkaido.” Takao said firmly and Midorima nodded. They then looked at Hanamiya and extended their hands. Hanamiya took it gratefully and with a firm shake.

“So, can you guys help me?” Hanamiya asked hopefully and Takao nodded eagerly.

“It’s better than staying here, all cooped up. We were starting to run out of supplies anyways. We were going to leave, too, actually.” Takao explained.

“Well, thank god I talked to you guys before you did.”

“Which reminds me, how did you know we weren’t infected?” Midorima asked curiously and Hanamiya tried to recall.

“I was running away from some the things when I saw two figures coming out of a house. At first I thought it was more of them and I was screwed but your movements were different. I immediately knew you guys weren’t one of them.”

“You’re perceptive.” Midorima pointed and Hanamiya shrugged.

“I guess. It wasn’t that hard to tell, though. The things out there all walk and act the same way. It wasn’t difficult to deduce.”

“Zombies.” Takao suddenly perked up.

“What?” Hanamiya turned to Takao.

“The things out there. They’re zombies.”

Hanamiya’s eyebrows scrunched up. “Those fictional monsters? Bullshit, those are not zombies. That’s all just fiction.”

“But they are.” Takao urged. “It all adds up though, doesn’t it? The whole dying and coming back alive thing? The ‘I want to eat your brains’ get up? They’re zombies. It’s not fiction anymore.”

Hanamiya sat back down, staring hard at Takao, thinking about his words. Then, his eyes widened. “It would make sense. The whole epidemic in the U.S. They always did do some crazy, conspiracy stuff behind everyone’s back. Maybe one of the experiments failed and it created this, just like all those other zombie movies. Creepy. It’s like those things predicted the future or something. Never did I imagine that made up monsters like zombies would actually be real now.”

“I know, tell me about it. It took forever to get Shin-chan to wrap his head around the fact that zombies exist now.” Takao chuckled and Midorima pushed his glasses up, not saying anything.

“Well, thanks.” Hanamiya said as he stood up again. “At least now, we know how to deal with them. I’ve seen a couple of zombie movies myself, so I think the mechanics are the same. Just hit them in the head, right?”

“Where the brain lies.” Takao simplified with a smile. “So, should we start packing for the long trip to Hokkaido?”

Both Midorima and Hanamiya nodded. “Do you have a weapon of any sort?” Midorima asked and Hanamiya shook his head.

“Just been running and avoiding the zombies all this time.”

“That’s amazing. You really just ran all the way up here without once killing a zombie?” Takao exclaimed and Hanamiya nodded. “Well, you don’t have to worry about being killed anymore. You’re going to need something sharp and pointy that you can stab with. I think a simple kitchen knife’ll be fine, right?” Takao then asked while going to the kitchen, fetching Hanamiya a spare knife. Hanamiya held it in his hands once Takao gave it to him, assessing the weight of the object and nodded satisfactorily.

“Thanks, I owe you guys a lot.” Hanamiya said gratefully.

“Well, for the moment, we’re going to need a lot more food and water. Since we’re three people, we can carry a lot of supplies with us, but other than weapons and food, we shouldn’t take any more.” Midorima said.

“Just take what’s necessary, right, Shin-chan?” Takao smiled and Midorima looked away.

“Just start packing, Bakao.” Hanamiya looked at the interaction between the two and sighed at the obliviousness of the two. They were obviously into each other and the fact that the two of them didn’t know was painful to the viewer.

Takao suddenly threw Hanamiya a bag and he looked at it, confused. “What’s this?”

“We’re going to stop by the supermarket one more time for more water and supplies.” Midorima answered. “We need you to carry some of it.”

Hanamiya smiled. “Sure, leave it to me.”

When everything was packed and they were all stacked up in the supermarket, the three survivors were ready.

“Thank god we have the stamina for it, right, Shin-chan?” Takao asked and Midorima harrumphed.

“Basketball practice was worth it. If we’re lucky, we can get to Hokkaido in two months or so. If we have a car, even better.”

“That’s so long.” Takao complained jokingly, but immediately but a straight face as they got ready to leave the area.

“Everything ready and packed?” Midorima asked the two people of the group nodded confidently. “Then, let’s go to Hokkaido.”


End file.
